Summary

At ten years old, Aaron Hotchner was quite sure he'd done all the growing up he'd ever need to. That was the summer he met a boy in the quarry who seemed entirely determined to do nothing of the sort. "We're not friends," was the first thing Spencer Reid ever said to him.

As it turned out, that was wrong.

Nine years later, Aaron was well on his way to finally proving that growing up was optional. On that particular night, he was several things: drunk, stupid, and completely unconcerned about the idiot about to get his arse kicked for counting cards. Not my problem, thought Aaron, and turned back to his friends.

Summary

At seventeen years old, Spencer Reid was many things: high, broken, aimless, longing for another hit. "How would you start your story?" asked the faceless human next to him, his name forgotten by morning. "If you had to tell someone about your life."

"Once upon a time," Spencer would have replied, after laughing, if he'd been sober and still how he'd used to be, "there was a lonely boy in a lonely quarry."